"This series of photos is not actually my latest work. It is a cycle called "Case History", that I might equally call the "clinical file of a disease". It took shape round 1997-1998. A big city, such as Harkov, offered me a great deal of raw material. And I did not miss it, I did not ignore it. I tried to capture the feeling of their helplessness, of their social oppression; I one witnessed a scene whereby a strong young man caviled at a poor guy passing by and kicked him hard. I even thought I had heard the poor man’s bones break. Nobody noticed it, either those nearby, or the militia man patrolling close by. I felt guilty, as I often feel guilty of things I see and take pictures of. Many people tell me that they have noticed such guys only after seeing my photos. Before, they didn’t have eyes for them. I could not say that I am a "chronographer" above all, because I am selecting, even sniffing situations for a long time. They say about me, and now I am repeating myself – because I like the comparison – that I proceed like a cat hiding, watching. I am waiting for the best moment to push the button of the camera. Eventually I do show the raw, direct, non-mediated photographic image. I am not trying to take pictures of sensational things, but rather of those things which are in excess. I am trying to find the unique in that manifold reality itself."
( Boris Mikhailov )
"The art of making what is prohibited in Mikhailov visible. It shows that normally only allows the madman and the artist: the connection between violence, lust and social stability. Viewers of his work that it closed its eyes to confirm what your images prevent ignore: that we should ignore execrable portion of society because their existence should not be integrated in our consciousness, and can not be integrated into our consciousness because it is the repressed Other. "
(Anne von der Heiden)
0 comments:
Post a Comment